


Gravitational Pull

by silversilky



Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Pre-Relationship, moca is the trash woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:20:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23990689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silversilky/pseuds/silversilky
Summary: It's another ordinary day aboard the debris collection vessel Afterglow as it traverses along its path in Earth's orbit, but today Tsugumi finds herself looking even further out onto the horizon.
Relationships: Aoba Moca/Hazawa Tsugumi, Minor TomoHima
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	Gravitational Pull

It's interesting how the sun looks up close. It's burned into her brain as a single, simple yellow orb, but when you moved infinitesimally closer it revealed itself in its actual glory, whirling and burning radioactive yellows and reds and colors that don't exist anywhere on Earth, reaching out, reaching in, eating each other in a frenzied dance that sends light and heat out into the infinite darkness. Something so terrifyingly alive that it indirectly has the ability to grant life. But if you moved back even a step, it'd be just a peaceful yellow orb once again.

  
Tsugumi watches the plumes of fire idly out of a small, round hatch buried into the wall. In the back of her mind it's hard to shake the feeling that she should be afraid. Without the thick barrier she'd be frozen or burned to death in an instant. But she trusts her ship, so it's easy to push that flight instinct away.

  
_Afterglow_ m3.02. A standard debris collection vessel, spacious enough to allow for its small crew to live and work within it for weeks on end before they needed to arrange a re-entry for supplies. Manufactured by the Tsurumaki-Tamade Ltd. Corporation under order of the Japanese government for the establishment of private collection firms, along with twenty-nine more like it. Only six remained in service, as the others were phased out in favor of newer models, but Tsugumi's been in a couple of those and to be honest she doesn't trust them.

  
The 'Glow was built to last. It'll probably be spaceworthy long after Tsugumi's met a nice girl and settled down on one of the colonies and opened a cozy little coffee joint for all the debris collectors to stop by before moving out. They'll swap stories about their time out there in the inky black picking up jettisoned garbage for a living.

  
And sometimes, Ran or Moca or Tomoe and Himari will come through, and they'll chat about old times together and laugh...

  
Her elbows are starting to ache where she's propped them up onto the metal ledge. She blinks twice to clear her head of those fantasies and stretches her arms up, hearing a pair of worrying pops as her joints crack. How long's she been out of it?

  
Before she can check a quiet hiss behind her says that a hatch has opened. Tsugumi swivels around in her chair to see who's come to her quarters, and a tired smile spreads once she sees her.

  
"Tsuguuuu~. You didn't show up to the afternoon briefing." Moca waggles her finger before crouching down a bit and jumping from the doorway into the room, lifting into the air slowly and turning as she floats into a mock-reclining position in the air. She drifts as Tsugumi stares and folds her arms.

  
"Moca, you need to start turning your grav boots on! It's dangerous to float around like that, and--hey, are your eyes closed? Whoa! Moca, hey!" Tsugumi flies to her feet and reaches out to grab Moca's hand and halt her momentum before she bumps into an array of fluid-transport pipes protruding from the wall.

  
Moca's left eye flicks open as she gives Tsugumi a thankful grin. "Mmmhm, but it's fun, especially when I know my Tsugu will always be there to keep me safe."

  
Her cheeks heat up in response, and she looks away. "You know I won't though. What if it was just Ran here? She'd probably let you float out through the airlock without a word." Tsugumi keeps her gaze fixed firmly away from Moca as she keeps her hold on her hand, feeling like a child with an strangely woman-shaped balloon.

  
"Our Ranny's not that cruel! She was askin' about you at the briefing, you know? So your wonderful, kind Moca came to check on how you're doing." Moca kicks off from the curved roof with a clank, drifting down to at least an approximation of a normal standing pose. "How're you holding up, Tsugu? What's on your mind these days?"

  
"..." Tsugumi doesn't really know how to respond. Especially since her hand is still locked together with Moca's. "Um, just daydreaming, really."

  
"You wanna talk about it? I'm all ears."

  
The room--bunk, really--is just small enough, the lights are just dim enough to account for the sun's light through the hatch, for the feeling of intimacy to start to sink in the longer Moca's there with her. Tsugumi clears her throat. She can't help but feel a little embarrassed about the fantasy, but if Moca wants to hear it...

  
"I was thinking about... after all this, you know? I mean, we're not gonna be picking up debris forever, I know Tomoe and Himari are already saving up to move to one of the colonies together. And once they go Ran's been talking about merging with that other freelance group, Minato's outfit... it's hard to not feel weird about things changing." Tsugumi looks down to the floor, where her grav boots are firmly attached. "So sometimes I just like to imagine little happy futures for myself, for all of us. I know it's kind of childish--"

  
"It's not childish," Moca cuts in, and Tsugumi looks up to meet her gaze. She stops, and for a moment the two just stare into each other's eyes. Moca looks absolutely serious for once. No joking grin tossed haphazardly across her face. Just... something else, showing in the way her jaw is set. "Don't feel bad about stuff like that, Tsugu. Okay?"

  
Tsugumi takes a moment to react, her brain's still catching up to the sudden mood shift, but when it does she nods quickly. "Ah! Um. Yeah, I'll... I'll try not to."

  
"Good." And then Moca bends her knees and lifts off once more, twirling around in the space with a careless sort of gracefulness. She reaches out to grip the same pipes that nearly bruised her a minute earlier, using them as angled monkey bars to achieve a more comfortable position. The sight of it makes Tsugumi remember the thing she should be asking right now.

  
"Oh, what happened at the briefing? Ah, I'll have to apologize to Ran..." She wrings her hands, and for a moment misses the tactile feeling of Moca squeezing one as she did just a few minutes ago.

  
"Nothin' important, don't worry. Just talked about moving our course a little to keep off Satou's turf. She's territorial, or at least that's what Tomoe's heard through her connections. Don't wanna get--" Moca makes a motion across her throat and sticks out her tongue, and it's cartoonish enough that Tsugumi giggles. "--just for grabbin' some junk, right?"

  
"That's good... but still, I should have been there--"

  
A sensation on her head stops her regret in its tracks. Moca reaches down and ruffles Tsugumi's hair into a fluffy mess from her position near the roof. "Don't worry your head about it, Tsugu, really."

  
Tsugumi smiles as she leans down to escape Moca's grasping hand before patting the mess back into shape, combing her fingers through her hair. Her cheeks feel warm, even though the ship's interior is always at least a little cold. "Okay. If you say so."

  
For a moment, they lock eyes again and Tsugumi loses track of what she was going to say next. But that's fine. This silence is a peaceful one, the kind you could only get with a close friend. One who knew you inside and out and understood exactly when no words were needed.

  
The ship growls and hums under their feet. A constant reminder of where they are, at first it was so all-encompassing of a sound and sensation Tsugumi had trouble sleeping, but now she's almost come to rely on it. A mechanical heartbeat from the main engines. Whenever she ends up leaving this life and settling on actual ground again, it's going to be hard to get used to a life without it rumbling away in the background of her daily life. It's going to be hard to get used to a life other than this, someday. A life without...

  
"Hey, Tsugu," Moca calls out, staring lazily at the roof. "You wanna talk about the thing you were thinking about? I'm curious. What kind of life is our Tsugu dreaming of?"

  
"Ah..." Tsugumi fiddles with her hands nervously. It's so embarrassing to talk about this out loud, but if Moca wants to hear it, then... maybe she can. "I was thinking about... moving to one of the colonies. Maybe opening a little cafe. And all of you would visit me, and we'd talk about stuff together... and maybe I'd get married and stuff." She rushes through the end of it as she grows even more ashamed of her desires.

  
"Ohoho, marriage? Our little Tsugu is growing up." Moca rotates to get a better look at her, holding her cheeks in her hands as if listening to something absolutely scandalous. "Gimme a little more of that. What kind of lucky person is our Tsugu interested in?"

  
"Um... well, I guess she would--" Tsugumi cuts herself off with a sharp breath. She never really told anybody that she preferred women, did she? Ahh, it's not like it's something rare, especially with cultural norms growing more lax about that sort of thing, but hopefully Moca doesn't think she's weird... and she doesn't look like she does. So after taking a moment to collect herself Tsugumi continues.

  
"She'd be... kind. And maybe a little taller than me, and I'd like it to be somebody who knows me really well..." Tsugumi feels her cheeks continue to heat up as she speaks and eventually she trails off and looks away.

  
"Sounds like our Tsugu has good taste." Moca pushes off from the roof and floats down, reaching her feet up one by one to flick the small casing up and tap the button to activate her personal gravity. Her feet connect to the floor with two heavy clunks. "But you know, somebody who knows you well? Sounds like most everybody on this ship." She leans in with hands on her hips and waggles her eyebrows. "You looking to hop into the Udagawa-Uehara situation and make it a trio? How modern. Or maybe Ran's more your taste. Brooding loner types who are secretly sensitive sweethearts... seems like your cup of tea, Tsugu."

  
"That's not--" Tsugumi sputters out. "No! I mean I love them all but I'm not interested in them like that, really!"

  
"I see, I see." The playful expression slips a bit, and Moca's jaw sets differently again. What is that face for? "Well, guess that just leaves little old Moca. You wanna run off with me, Tsugu? Open a little cafe on Ganymede and grow old together?" It sounds like a joke. But something about the tone is off.

  
Tsugumi stares Moca in the eyes for longer than she should. She wants to deny it just like the others, but for some reason the words are stuck in her throat...

  
"Ah, too far?" Moca leans back. "My bad. I--"

  
"No!" Tsugumi says, maybe louder than she intended but it certainly gets Moca's attention. She stops and blinks owlishly at Tsugumi's little outburst, and Tsugumi realizes she has more to say. "Um... it's not too far. It's a nice thought, actually... um, thank you for humoring me, Moca. I thought you might make fun of me for wanting to do something so ordinary with my life..."

  
"Never," Moca responds. "Our Tsugu's dreams are precious. Gotta handle em with care."

  
The seriousness with which she says it sends a bloom of warmth through Tsugumi's chest. Moca doesn't always mean everything she says, but when she talks like this it's easier to tell how much she really believes it. To have someone hold her little fantasies in such high regard, it's... too much for her to not react.

  
She moves forward and hugs Moca tight. Moca can't slip away now, she already turned the grav boots on just like Tsugumi asked, so after a moment Tsugumi feels skinny arms wrap around her and hold her gently by the shoulders. She closes her eyes and buries her face in Moca's shoulder, taking in her friend's warmth, her familiar scent.

  
Eventually, realizing the hug has gone on too long, she begins to pull away. But she stops when she sees Moca's face looking down at her from so close. Her eyes are wide open and for once they look unguarded, open...

  
It's interesting how Moca Aoba looks up close. Her image in Tsugumi's mind is so simple, so purely warm and funny, but when she moves infinitesimally closer her friend reveals herself in her actual glory. In her eyes, Tsugumi sees such beautiful, deep colors. Like a frozen lake so clear and still she can see all the way down into its endless depths. Then Moca blinks, and the impression is lost.

  
"Feelin' affectionate today, aren't you, Tsugu?" Moca grins lazily. A quick coat of paint to cover up what's underneath, but Tsugumi already saw, it's not leaving her mind so quickly. "Heh, maybe Moca is your type after all."

  
"Maybe," Tsugumi says on a wild impulse, and Moca's breaths stop for a second.

  
The two stare into each other's eyes in silence for a long moment. And then Tsugumi's face bursts into a violent red, and she jerks away from Moca in a rush of embarrassment. "Ah, um, sorry, that was just--"

  
"Just a joke, right?"

  
"Yeah. Yeah, just a joke," Tsugumi responds, hiding her face in her hands and moving her fingers apart to look at Moca apologetically. "Sorry if it was too much."

  
"Nah, you're good." Moca smiles at her lazily and flashes double peace signs. "Anyway, we're gonna be changing course pretty soon. Then we've got a couple hours of pickup duty planned, so I'm gonna go get the suits ready. You down to go out when it's time?"

  
"Mmhmm, yeah." She nods. "Just give me a call when it's time, okay?"

  
"Will do, Tsugu." Moca salutes before reaching down to flick the buttons on her boots again. She opens the door and pushes off to float down the cluttered expanse of the main corridor recklessly, grabbing devices that jut from the walls and pushing off of them for more momentum. Tsugumi sighs at the display, but as the door closes, her mind starts to race again. She turns her gaze back to the hatch.

  
Was it her imagination?

  
Or were Moca's cheeks as bright and hot as hers were, just for a single moment?

  
Tsugumi shakes her head and leans forward as she rests her chin back in her hands. She lets out a long breath and turns her eyes back out the hatch, to her glorious close-up view of the sun. So warm and so infinitely dangerous... There's no use dwelling on it, it was just banter. Nothing worth reading too much into. Moca will probably forget the whole conversation by tomorrow, really, and Tsugumi knows she should too. She should be preparing for the next shift.

  
But as she drifts back into her daydreams, thoughts of that lovely future life somewhere else out in the universe...

  
...she can't help but start to put a face to the person she would live it with.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! this can be read as a sort of Planetes AU and i did take inspiration from that with the setting, but it's also somewhat inspired by Nektar's album Journey to the Centre of the Eye, which i'd pretty highly recommend as it's one of my favorite concept albums. comments are very appreciated and you can find me on twitter as well @tractioncities!


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